Government by duplicity | TheArticle

Thearticle

Government by duplicity | TheArticle"


Play all audios:

Loading...

 It is difficult to find the right word to describe the current practice of our national Government.  Grand announcements of virtuous intentions fall far short of expectations or are just


not carried out. There is much saying and promising one thing and doing another.  Google’s definition of duplicity — “the belying of one’s true intentions by deceptive words or actions” —


fits best.  Here are just two examples of our duplicitous Government at work.


When David Cameron was Prime Minister, he made a commitment in 2013, a time of austerity, to annual spending of 0.7% of GDI (Gross Domestic Income) on International Development.  Aid which


enhanced Britain’s position in the world and brought vital help to the poorest.  In November 2020 (during the pandemic) Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak reneged on that promise, reducing


spending “temporarily” to 0.5% of GDI.  Now, within the amalgamated Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, presided over by the same David Cameron, now a peer, more than a third of


that reduced international aid budget is spent inside the UK.  In 2022-2023, Britain spent £3.6 billion on asylum seekers, 29% of the international aid budget, mainly the cost of hotel


accommodation – currently running at £8 million a day.  And, of course, there is the estimated £600 million earmarked for the crowd-pleasing plan to send some 300 people who arrived here in


small boats to Rwanda.


“We have seen a shocking increase in disruption and criminality…the world’s most successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy is being deliberately undermined.” Anyone listening to Rishi


Sunak’s 1st March podium address to the nation might have imagined the Prime Minister was reacting to something comparable to the devastating terrorist attacks of 2017.   But no.   Sunak was


alarmed by the largely peaceful demonstrations in support of a ceasefire in Gaza and the rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents since October 7th.  Of course they should be taken


seriously.  Terrorist threats have risen.  But Britain remains at the “substantial” (likely) rather than “severe” (very likely) threat level, determined by the Joint Terrorism Analysis


Centre (JTAC) and MI5.


On 14 March the Communities Secretary, Michael Gove, appeared in Parliament in the improbable role of an Old Testament prophet, preaching healing of divisions in society and warning against


Islamism as a “totalitarian ideology”.  He offered a new definition of extremism: “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance” which aimed to


“negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others” or “undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights” and to


“intentionally create a permissive environment” for others to achieve the above aims.


Gove went on to suggest a shortlist of organisations of concern which would henceforth be shunned by the Home Office and receive no public funding.  Organisations can change over time. 


Gove’s list will require regular reassessment.  None on his present list had ever received public funds from Government and all had been shunned by the Home Office for many years.  A brazen


performance.  Business as usual dressed up as change, inaction sounding like a dramatic demarche.  Except that we have a new definition of extremism, which Church leaders and others worry


could disproportionately affect Muslims and curtail freedom of speech.


Whilst “Islamism” was named as a threatening ideology, Gove made do with neo-Nazism for his example of right-wing extremism.   So let us pass over the inconvenient thought that some of the


less poisonous, though more influential, right-wing extremism has emerged from within the Conservative Party.


Just as ISIS was reaching the height of its power in 2014-2015, and we were learning about the horrors of Jihadi John and his team of executioners, I was working on the dynamics of religious


extremism.  Shamima Begum, aged only 15, running away with her two school friends to join the self-declared Caliphate, embodied a far greater and more mystifying threat to society than


today’s largely political divisions.  What on earth did these children think they were doing?  What were the psychological and ideological causes?  And how do you change a permissive


environment which allows perverse ideas to inspire irrevocable action?  In the case of the girls leading to marriage to jihadists and some degree of complicity in their brutality?


Safeguarding vulnerable people, challenging the ideas behind, and countering, terrorism, reversing radicalisation are the aims of the national Prevent programme initiated some twenty years


ago.  The behaviour to be combatted was then defined as “vocal or active opposition to British fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual


respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”.  The seven dead of the 2017 London Bridge attack and the 26 who died at the hands of a suicide bomber in the Manchester Arena the same


year, showed how such a mindset could – not inevitably would- trigger actual murderous jihadist violence and underlined the importance of Prevent.


Prevent issues, and updates, extensive guidelines intended to help public bodies, Local Authorities, teachers and parents understand their statutory duty to be alert to and report people


showing indications of extremism, and when to make a referral for further investigation which might be followed up by mentoring.    Prevent has been overwhelmed by the number of referrals,


only a fraction of which go forward.  By 2021 more than half of referrals involved extremist right-wing behaviour and attitudes.  Views about Prevent are highly politicised; it is caught


between fire from both the Right and from Muslim communities.


In January 2021 the Government commissioned a review of Prevent, headed by the former head of the Charity Commission, William Shawcross.  The review was boycotted by many Muslim


organisations and rejected by Amnesty International on grounds of Shawcross’s alleged bias and remarks he had made which they considered anti-Muslim.  Some of the report’s 34


recommendations, such as expanding the Prevent duty to immigration and job centres,  and questioning the consistency between the treatment of Islamic and Right-wing extremist referrals,


proved contentious.


Islamic values do need to be disentangled from what is called Islamist ideology.  In her article on Saturday, “The Politics of Fear: how to counter extremism”, Charlotte Littlewood writes


passionately about Islamism, hate speech, cruel, ancient punishments, and intolerance.  But in general, the label “Islamism” is far too catch-all and left undefined, or refers simply to


seeking an “Islamic state with shari’a law”.  So, it can include everything from ISIS executioners to the peaceful and pious Muslim Brotherhood supporters, protesting after General Abdel


Fattah El-Sisi’s July 2013 coup toppled an elected Egyptian government, gunned down amongst the 900 massacred by police.  Is the wish to have a government imbued with Islamic values, even if


it is the result of a non-violent, incremental, democratic process, to be labelled Islamism?  Currently, in a predominantly secular society, probably the answer is yes.


All the recent talk about Islamism, though, was intended to cast Sunak and Gove as statesmen, responsible custodians of law and order, protectors against an extremist threat, unifying the


nation, rousing the Red Wall constituencies.   But it came across as a carefully contrived contribution to the culture wars.  Meanwhile, behind the scenes – at least until Mayor Sadiq Khan


pointed it out – the Home Office was cutting the annual funding for Prevent in London by two-thirds from £6.1 million in December 2019 to £2 million after April 2025.


Words do not trump reality.  And what you hear is not what you get.  Call it duplicity, call it deceit.  It is no way to govern.


By proceeding, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and our Privacy Policy.


If an account exists for this email address, you will shortly receive an email from us. You will then need to:


Please note, this link will only be valid for 24 hours. If you do not receive our email, please check your Junk Mail folder and add info@thearticle.com to your safe list.


Trending News

Video: York farmers spray NHS thank-you message on airfield

Farmers in York are the latest to thank the NHS and food producers during the coronavirus pandemic – by using precision ...

Cramer's lightning round: i like enphase energy over evgo

LOADING CHART... EVgo: "EVgo, I know that sounds good. ... I have really pulled in my horns. I like Enphase Energy,...

Reading explorers | k-2-510: school around the world | season 5 | episode 20

(soft music) - Good morning super readers. Super readers! Thank you for joining us in our Valley PBS classroom. My name ...

Covid: india extends suspension of flights to & from uk till 7 jan

The suspension of flights to and from the UK has been extended till 7 January 2021, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Sing...

Page not found - Eenadu.net

TRENDING IPL 2025 Rains Breaking | Feedback | ePratibha | E-PAPER | Pratibha ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ రాష్ట్ర వార్తలు జిల్లా వార్తలు...

Latests News

Government by duplicity | TheArticle

 It is difficult to find the right word to describe the current practice of our national Government.  Grand announcement...

Mystery solved: our tests reveal the tiny algae killing fish and harming surfers on SA beaches

Shauna Murray receives funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, the New South Wales Recreational...

Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag has key reason for pursuing both Eriksen and De Jong transfers

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag’s desperation to inject some quality into his depleted midfield is a key reason for ...

Farmers demand urgent support as industry teeters on cliff edge of catastrophe

British farmers are demanding urgent support from the Government as the industry teeters on the edge of catastrophe. Man...

How to generate a sequence diagram within markdown using js-sequence-diagram and mkdocs

I found out about js-sequence-diagrams, a javascript library that makes turning text into vector UML sequence diagrams v...

Top